All this talk about the big three waltzing to a championship is garbage. The Lakers alone are better at than the big three at two of three positions, not to mention a MUCH stronger bench.

Even getting out of the conference won't be a given for these guys. Boston will bully them, Dwight Howard will beast on em, and Chicago's front-line will eat Bosh and random minimum salary centre up.

I'm with 'trane, I'm calling dud. That doesn't make me hate LeBron or Bosh any less though.

Those teams had enough problems dealing with ONE of those stars. Their defensive strategies were geared around the fact that you could trap/double them guys and force them to give the ball up.... basically just make their teammates try to beat you.

Can't do that anymore.

BOS has the toughness.... but they don't have the young legs anymore.

ORL just doesn't have the perimeter defense.

CHI and LAL have the best chances at combatting the new Heat IMO..... but it ain't gonna be easy.

In all honesty, is Stern going to come out of his closet and address this or is he too busy swimming in a pool of change at home like that old duck cartoon?

stern likely loves this. i'm sure he's not totally happy that guys are leaving their teams and that the incentives to keep them there aren't strong enough, but i'll bet that he's thrilled at the media attention the nba is getting and that millions of people will be watching with rapt attention to see how these guys do next year.

sports guy posted a cleveland mailbag of sorts in his column today one of the comments was about what the nickname for teh big 3 should be. this entry was awesome:

Quote:

5. The Nazgul

The Nazgul were the characters in Lord of the Rings that were former kings who turned into demons that were constantly chasing the ring. It completely consumed them and robbed them of their humanity. I think this sums up the situation in Miami.

The Heat's two newest superstars signed matching six-year, $110.1 million contracts, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher. Dwyane Wade took an even bigger discount to stay in Miami, signing for six years and $107.5 million, according to the sources.

Sources told ESPN.com's Chad Ford that James and Bosh are scheduled to make $14.5 million and Wade $14 million in 2010-11.

Each player took $15 million less over the life of the contract to sign with Miami, but the deals came with a caveat.

All three contracts, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein, have an early termination option after the fourth season that would allow LeBron, Bosh and Wade to return to free agency in the summer of 2014. Each player also possesses a player option entering the final season of the contract (2015-16).

Bosh and James' deals were completed through sign-and-trades, making all three eligible for 10.5 percent raises each year.

The Heat sent two future first-round and two second-round picks to the Cavaliers for James, while packaging two first-round picks to the Raptors for Bosh.